Nicolas Cage actually went searching for the Holy Grail

It was bound to happen at some stage, but today – note the date, everyone – we may have reached peak Nicolas Cage.

The eccentric screen icon has revealed that he once went on his own quest to find the Holy Grail. In real life.

Summoning his treasure hunter character Benjamin Gates from the National Treasure movies, he hoped to find the sacred vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper and then to catch his blood at his crucifixion, by following clues and investigating the mythology.

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He told the New York Times: “I went years where all I was doing was meditating three times a day and reading books on philosophy, not drinking whatsoever.

“That was the time when I almost went on - you might call it a grail quest.

“I started following mythology and I was finding properties that aligned with that. It was almost like National Treasure.”

His quest took him to mystical spots in the UK, he went on to reveal.

“It's like when you build a library. You read a book, and in it there's a reference to another book, and then you buy that book, and then you attach the references,” he added.

“For me it was all about where was the grail? Is it at Glastonbury? Does it exist? If you go to Glastonbury and go to the Chalice Well, there's a spring that does taste like blood. I guess it's really because there's a lot of iron in the water.

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“But legend had it that in that place was a grail chalice, or two cruets rather, one of blood and one of sweat. But that led to there being talk that people had come to Rhode Island, and they were looking for something as well.

“What I ultimately found is: ‘What is the Grail but Earth itself?' The metaphor for me is the earth. The divine object is Earth.”

So OK, while he didn't find it, at least he had a decent crack at it. Which is more than you've done.